Project Description

Two organizations, BBH Design and Umstead Park United Church of Christ (UPUCC) joined forces and acquired and co-closed on a 32,000 square foot, second generation industrial park building. The site is centrally located between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and adjacent to a national state park.

This environmentally friendly renovation-retrofit originally began with sharing the needs of a growing architectural firm and a church congregation. Both were weary of renting space and were searching for their first home as a step towards implementing their organizational visions. The overall project consisted of transforming the existing facility to create a new presence, a shared entrance-lobby and the renovations for each identity. The design explores aspects of "human-nature" in a way that integrates the interaction of people, nature and the built environment in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Through the reuse of an underutilized existing office building, designers and owners envisioned a dual-purpose facility. The primary goal of this project was to accommodate the unique opportunity of housing a Church and a Professional Architecture Practice Office together in an environmentally responsive manner. On the church's side, the goal was to design facilities and communal spaces for the development of the human spirit in conjunction with nature. On the professional office side the goal was to open the architectural and design environments to the natural world to foster creativity and raise environmental awareness. At the heart of this project was the belief in the power of collaboration and having faith in each other with a common goal of sustainability. Both organizations saw this as an opportunity to avoid consuming the resources that would have been required in constructing two buildings, or developing multiple construction sites. This synergistic approach of project management created exponential benefits far greater than that of a singular group, firm or organization. Equally unique was implementing a design-build approach and process in obtaining LEED certification. The building achieved LEED Gold certification – the first architectural office and church in the southeast to do so.

Sustainable Features

• 57% of the Site Area Restored using Native/Adaptive Planting
• 38% Water Use Reduction
• 16% Energy Savings
• 35% Green Power Usage
• 87% Construction Waste Diverted from Landfill
• 96% Reuse of Existing Envelope and Structural Components
• 57% Reuse of Non-Structural Interior Components
• 50% Usage of Local Materials
• 91% of Regularly Occupied Space Accessible to Outside Views